Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
It feels like the season has only just begun, but just like that, we’re two months down. As the standings begin to take shape, now feels like a good time for an awards race check-in. There’s plenty of time for new names to emerge in contention for individual accolades, but to this point, here’s the group that’s taken an early lead.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
AL MVP
Nick Selbe: My preseason pick for this award was Shohei Ohtani.